Monday, 21 December 2009

Mutually Assured Destruction for Christmas

Back in the dark days of the Cold War they really knew how to keep children entertained – or scared stupid as we tend to describe the condition today. Forget about Transformers and toxic hamsters, what every boy and girl needs in order to understand their place in the world is a field guide to ICBMs, ground-to-air delivery systems and anti-personnel rockets. Huge thanks are due to the publishers of the Hippo Guide to Missiles and Rockets, and to Gair Dunlop at the University of Dundee for posting this festive treat in its entirety on Flickr. Peace on Earth is overrated at the best of times – so lock and load. And remember: if it’s not scaring you, then it’s probably not doing that much for your enemy either.

About Me

Ken Hollings is a writer based in London. His work appears in a wide range of journals and publications, including The Wire, Sight and Sound, Strange Attractor, Frieze, Blast and Nude, and in the anthologies The Last Sex, Digital Delirium, Undercurrents, London Noir and Krautrock. His novel Destroy All Monsters was hailed by The Scotsman as ‘a mighty slab of trippy, cult, out-there fiction, mind-bending reading’. He has written and presented critically acclaimed programmes for BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Resonance FM, NPS in Holland and ABC Australia. Ken is the author of Welcome to Mars: Fantasies of Science and the American Century 1947-1959, available from Strange Attractor Press in the UK and North Atlantic Books in the US. His new book 'The Bright Labyrinth' is now available from Strange Attractor Press.